GYPSUM — Two men who had been deported a total of nine times from the United States were jailed after sheriff’s deputies pulled over their mini van, according to an Eagle County Sheriff’s Office report.

Arturo Tellez-Salazar, 39, of Arizona, was pulled over on Interstate 70 last week when sheriff’s deputies saw that the blue mini van he was driving had an unreadable temporary license plate.

Salvador Rodriguez-Rojas, 23, of Mexico, said the eight people in the van were family members and were driving from Phoenix to Denver to find work, the report says. Two more people were later found behind the back seat of the van, the report says.
One of the illegal immigrants said this was the second time he had been caught in the United States.

A woman said she and her husband had crossed into the United States from Mexico about two weeks ago.

Tellez-Salazar had been deported eight times before and Rodriguez-Rojas had been deported once before, the report says.

The men, who also gave sheriff’s deputies fake identification, were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling, criminal impersonation and possession of a forged instrument, all felonies, and second-degree forgery, a misdemeanor.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement picked up the other passengers.